The Soul of the Stranger: Reading God and Torah from a Transgender Perspective

By :  Joy Ladin Past Adjunct Professor, JTS; David and Ruth Gottesman Chair in English, Yeshiva University (2003-2021) Posted On Nov 20, 2018 | Author Conversations: Between the Lines | Gender
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Reading some of the best-known Torah stories through the lens of transgender experience, Joy Ladin explores fundamental questions about how religious texts, traditions, and the understanding of God can be enriched by transgender perspectives, and how the Torah and trans lives can illuminate one another. Drawing on her own experience and lifelong reading practice, Ladin shows how the Torah speaks both to practical transgender concerns, such as marginalization, and to the challenges of living without a body or social role that renders one intelligible to others—challenges that can help us understand a God who defies all human categories.

Dr. Burton Visotzky served as moderator.